Pollinator Conservation on Solar Farms: The Entomology Perspective
Amid the steady growth of solar energy production in the United States, pollinator conservation at solar installations has become an appealing secondary pursuit, but the long-term success of such efforts remains to be seen. In a new article published today in the journal Environmental Entomology, a group of entomologists say pairing solar energy with pollinator habitat offers great promise, but scientific evaluation and meaningful standards will be key to making it a true win-win combination.
CRISPR Cuts Through Layers of Butterfly Wing-Pattern Evolution
Researchers used CRISPR to cut out major wing patterning genes in Heliconius butterflies and discovered there's more than one pathway to rewind evolutionary time in butterfly co-mimics.
The Eyes Have It: How Butterflies Navigate to Suitable Habitat
Do butterflies find suitable habitat through vision or via other senses? The results of a new study were easy to see: Butterflies with flash-induced blindness consistently failed to navigate to target habitat that unaffected butterflies could readily find.
A Little Bit of Spit and a Whole Lot of Patience: What It Takes to Produce a Butterfly Field Guide
Sebastián Mena of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama collected and photographed 120 butterfly species for a guidebook he co-authored about Panama’s Pipeline Road Trail. Find out what Mena says goes into researching, writing, and designing an insect field guide.